The study was done to investigate the association between obstetric hemorrhage and cardiovascular disease up to three decades after pregnancy. The research design used was a population‐based cohort study. The participants included in the study were all women who delivered between 1989 and 2016 in Quebec.
The data collection method was the analysis of hospital admissions data, 1 224 975 women were followed from their first delivery until 2018. The main exposure measures were antenatal or postpartum hemorrhage, with or without transfusion. Adjusted Cox regression models were used to assess the association between obstetric hemorrhage and future cardiovascular disease.
Among 104 291women with hemorrhage, 4.4% required transfusion. Women with hemorrhage had a higher incidence of cardiovascular hospitalization than women without hemorrhage. The risk of cardiovascular hospitalization was higher for obstetric hemorrhage, with or without transfusion, compared with no hemorrhage. Women with hemorrhage and transfusion had a substantially greater risk of cardiovascular hospitalization. Among transfused women, placental abruption and postpartum hemorrhage were both associated with the risk of cardiovascular hospitalization. Antenatal hemorrhage with transfusion was associated with 2.46 times the risk of cardiovascular hospitalization at 5 years and 2.14 times the risk at 10 years.
The study concluded that the risk of future cardiovascular disease is increased for women with obstetric hemorrhage who require transfusion.
Reference: https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1471-0528.16321
